Ahhhh . . . The Stench of New Music

After a supremely, almost epically, bad week I used some gift certificate money and the return of a gift to fund some music purchases.

First I got this.

And then I got this.

Thanks to Mike Tickle for reminding me about the Punk box. I'm really enjoying it. The cool thing is that as I sit listening to everything from early Punk to New Wave folk is that I've realized that these two boxed sets really contain the roots of almost all the current bands I listen to. From Wilco to Magnetic Fields, their influences are all there. There's some overlap with my collection (Iggy, Elvis, Nick Cave, etc.) but there is enough on them that I would never buy independently (The Adverts, Ministry, The Cameleons) that it's well worth the price of admission.

Seeing the sets side by side in the store (yes, a physical store) I realized how well they segue into each other. One grows out of the other.

What's more, is I have over ten hours of music. Ten hours. Sweet. Don't call, I'm busy.

Best discovery of a band I somehow missed: Ultravox. How did I not notice them before? Where have I been? Obviously Stephin Merritt is well-versed in their music.

Favorite re-discovery: I had forgotten that REM and The Pretenders didn't always suck.

Favorite Song that Sticks Out: Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him" sandwiched between The Pop Group's oddities and The Undertones' classic punk/pop sound.

Song I had completely forgotten about: Camper Van Beethoven's "Take the Sk!nheads Bowling". (Be gone naughty Googlers.) I mean, really, if a sk!nhead discovered how poorly he performs at bowling, would he really feel superior? Come on, the great equalizer is the gutter ball.

Anyway, I'm musically happy.